The article showcases Chakaia Booker's work displayed at the National Gallery of Art, emphasizing her unique approach to sculptures made from recycled tires. Her diverse artistry blends environmental themes with performance and craftsmanship, reflecting on justice and the history of Western art. The piece 'Acid Rain' exemplifies this method, showcasing tire manipulation techniques that create monumental installations that weigh thousands of pounds. Booker's art not only addresses environmental issues but also intersects with cultural heritage, making her contributions significant to contemporary art discourse.
Chakaia Booker, the shamanic figure in those images as well as the artist who created them, occupies several realms at once. She is primarily a sculptor who works with tires: so, so many tires, stripped and sliced and coiled and collaged into vast agglomerations.
But she is also a performance-oriented artist who weighs the notion of environmental ruin within the contexts of craft, justice and Western art history.
For 'Acid Rain' (2001), the artist manipulates her medium in every conceivable way, stripping tires into thin ribbons and slicing rubber into fat curlicues.
A typical work for Booker, 'Acid Rain' weighs more than 2,000 pounds.
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